Matthew Knies capped a hat-trick with the game-winner at 2:56 of overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs earned a giant win on Wednesday night, edging the host Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a battle for Atlantic Division supremacy.
After the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov failed on a two-on-one break, Knies recorded his second career hat trick off a dish from Auston Matthews as the first-place Leafs (48-26-4, 100 points) moved to 8-2 in the overtime period and swept all four matches from the Lightning.
Mitch Marner totaled a goal and two assists, and Matthews had three assists. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 25 saves to recorded his sixth consecutive win.
Toronto closed down the home club’s shooting lanes by blocking 33 shots.
Opening a four-game homestand, second-place Tampa Bay (45-26-7, 97 points) had Nick Perbix score at even strength, while Oliver Bjorkstrand and Victor Hedman tallied on the power play. Brandon Hagel had two assists, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.
First line left winger Jake Guentzel, a 38-goal scorer, was scratched due to a family reason.
A night after losing to the host Florida Panthers, the Leafs put together a dazzling opening 3:33 following a pair of goals off turnovers.
Matthews intercepted Hagel’s pass and flipped it to Marner, who cut back and netted goal No. 25 at 1:13 on the game’s first shot.
Just over two minutes later, Matthews led a two-on-one rush and fired a shot that Vasilevskiy kicked out. However, Knies pounced on the rebound for his 27th tally and a 2-0 lead.
Needing some momentum, the Lightning got it from Perbix when his wrister with 1:02 left in the period found its way through traffic to cut the margin to 2-1.
After a scoreless second, Bjorkstrand’s one-timer in the slot from Kucherov evened it 2-all at 50 seconds with some leftover power-play time to start the third, but Knies scored on a four-minute, double-minor power play at 2:03.
On the home side’s fourth man advantage, Hedman tied it a second time with a wrist shot from the slot at 11:05.
